Know What Sets Executive Positioning Apart

Before addressing how to build your executive positioning, it’s important to clarify the basics. It shapes how stakeholders categorize your fit for executive-level roles before you walk into any conversation and long before an open C-suite role is publicized.

Notably, executive positioning is distinct from executive presence, which is how you carry yourself in the moment: the way you speak, lead a room and command respect. It is also distinct from your personal brand, which is how you are perceived based on your skills, experience, personality and thought leadership. Executive positioning encompasses both, and is also more targeted and outcome-oriented.

In other words, you can have a strong personal brand, excellent executive presence and still be invisible to the people holding the keys to the C-suite roles you want.

Build A Narrative Only You Can Tell

Tough as the terrain may be, Deloitte’s analysis of 46,000 C-suite job postings from 2018 to 2023 reveals that organizations are systematically adding new C-suite roles. Those seeking C-suite roles may, in fact, have a greater chance of success, based on the numbers. But they must have a clear and compelling C-suite narrative to break through, especially since the Deloitte findings also show that many executive seats now carry broader mandates than before.

A C-suite narrative is a specific, evidence-backed account of what kind of executive you are, what you deliver and what you will own. It goes far beyond what any resume or executive summary can communicate on its own. An effective C-suite narrative combines two or three named proof points with measurable outcomes, a distinctive point of view on your function or industry and clarity on what you uniquely take off the table for the CEO or other stakeholders. Keep a longer list of proof points top of mind so you have the right story ready, whether for board dinners or recruiter calls, and practice sharing them out loud so you come across confident and coherent.

Position Yourself Where C-Suite Decisions Are Made

As you ascend the corporate ladder, the rooms, conversations and circles that matter start to look different. They include executive peer circles, board-adjacent settings, sponsor relationships with people currently sitting in the C-suite and curated visibility in trade press pieces that the executives and board members you’re targeting actually read.

Senior women can’t afford to invest time and energy in conferences without real stakeholders present or watching, community groups that don’t include high-level decision-makers and broad public content that cultivates engagement with peers rather than attention from the levels above.

To be clear, women who successfully secure C-suite roles do not quit publishing thought leadership or attending events. Rather, they continually pivot upward, strategically directing their content and their presence toward the levels they seek.

Start Positioning Yourself For The C-Suite Now

The 29% C-suite number has not moved in a year and has barely shifted in a decade. Executive positioning strengthens over time, so the leaders deliberately building, refining and honing theirs now will be on the short list for 2028 executive openings.

If that’s you, start this quarter by drafting your C-suite narrative around three proof points with measurable outcomes, identifying the five stakeholders you most need to reach and picking one executive forum or board-adjacent group to join. The women in the C-suite now were once where you are. Position yourself today so you can join them.